


Come Away with Me

by possiblywonderful



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Hand Jobs, Humor, M/M, Mentions of Ex-Boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-10
Updated: 2013-06-10
Packaged: 2017-12-14 12:12:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/836737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/possiblywonderful/pseuds/possiblywonderful
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A day on which you nearly don't make your flight home, a kid vomits onto your shoes and you even consider dressing up as a flight attendant really can't turn out to be a good day, now can it?</p><p>Unless you meet someone that may change your entire life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come Away with Me

“What do you mean, you lost my seat? As in _literally_ lost my seat?! Or as in you can’t find my reservation or booking information? And may I inform you that a) both options would equally suck and b) I booked this flight five months ago. Like, how much better prepared can you be?!”

The young flight attendant in front of him looks extremely sorry and, if you ask Stiles, maybe even a bit helpless which should not even be an option here because if _she_ didn’t know what to do, who else would? “Sir, please calm down. I can’t find your booking information in the system right now but I’m sure this is just a little technical defe…”

“Look”, Stiles cuts her off. “I know it’s not your fault and I know computers sometimes have their mystic ways of letting things vanish into a giant nothingness, believe me. I study computers fulltime. But could you please do something so I get on that flight?”

The people behind Stiles are starting to grow restless and maybe even more annoyed than Stiles, even though he doubted that was possible at this point.

“Sir, I promise to do my best so everything works out”, the flight attendant assures him. “But this flight is full and there might be the slight possibility that you have to take a different flight.”

Stiles takes a few deep breathes, trying to calm himself down. He thought that after all the chaos that was his life in the recent months, he would’ve been able to catch a break now that he travelled home but it seems like life took this opportunity to test his nerves once again. Maybe he won an unlimited amount of free rides on his very own version of an emotional rollercoaster without being fully aware of it. If this was actually the case, he’d like to talk to the manager because he most definitely did _not_ sign up for any of this.

“When does the next flight leave?” Stiles tries to sound as calm as possible because freaking out the flight attendant wouldn’t help one bit, especially not when she’s the only one who can get him out of this misery.

“We’ve been re-scheduling our flight plan and everything’s a bit messy still since there was this weather chaos a few days ago so I’m afraid the next flight doesn’t leave until tomorrow evening at seven.”

He really does try but staying calm was getting harder by the second. And it seemed like the people behind him would be glad for probably any kind of solution as long as Stiles and his problem finally left the scene. He can hear them mumbling things like _always these young, careless guys_ or _we don’t have all of today_ and if Stiles had heard right, someone even threatened to use a shotgun to solve the problem at hand since that had always worked out fine up until now. Stiles would _really_ like for the issue to be solved. Soon.

 “I would do nearly anything to get on that flight. Really.” And apparently, sounding desperate was still an option too. Good to know. He’d pick up his dignity sometime later.

“Sir, I’m afraid that th…”

“Money? Is money the problem? Even if that means I have no food for the next two months, I’ll pay for a seat. Any seat. Even first class or the storage area. Just gimme a warm coat and I’ll sit between those bags and suitcases. I’ll be fine.”

Someone yells something like _just give him a damn seat_ from the back of the queue.

“By all means, I’ll even sit on one of the flight attendant seats, even if that means I have to wear the official flight attendant uniform. I’ll do it. I swear.”

A few people behind him, a guy snorts out a laugh. If Stiles would not have been the one affected by all of this chaos, he probably would’ve laughed at that image too.

The flight attendant smiles a smile that had something final to it, an apologetic touch and that was the moment in which Stiles knew he wouldn’t make it to Scott’s wedding. He’d miss his best friend’s wedding because of a damn computer glitch. He would so sue the damn company who made that stupid software.

“Sir, I fear there is nothing we can do. We’ll pay for your accommodation, just pick any kind of hotel you like and send the check to our headquarters. I’ll write down the address, please give me a mo…”

“Taylor? Taylor, honey, are you feeling alright? Are you sick again?”

Stiles turns around _just_ in time to witness how the little boy right behind him, apparently said Taylor the woman was talking to just now, vomited onto Stiles’ shoes. Stiles definitely needs to have a serious talk with whoever was responsible for his fate because this was reaching a level of _not funny_ that was more than just off the charts. Beyond good and evil could go home and cry in a corner because his life was 100% worse than being beyond good and evil.

This was also the moment in which Stiles just gave up. He couldn’t make it to Scott’s and Allison’s wedding, his life has been a mess in the last months and a kid just vomited onto his shoes. There was only so much a guy could take.

“Oh my goodness, I’m _so_ sorry.” The woman is torn between fretting over his son, wiping his mouth clean and apologizing to Stiles in such a profound way that, even though he’s not the one to blame here, felt a little bit bad for her because it was definitely not her fault that her son decided to let his breakfast have a detour that ended up on someone else’s shoes. Nevertheless, it didn’t make anything better nor did it get Stiles to where he wanted to be right now. Meaning: not here. “The doctor said everything should be okay again by now. I didn’t know my son would be sick again, I’m so sorry, Sir! I will pay for the dry cleaning and a pair of new shoes. Please just send me the check and I will…”

“It’s okay”, Stiles cuts her off. “I will just go back to my apartment and pretend today didn’t happen. I hope your son gets better soon. Have a good flight.” He leans down, picks his bag up, throws it over his shoulder and is about to walk away when Taylor’s mom utters a little cough, followed by a hesitant “You can have our seats, if you’d like?”

Stiles turns around and looks at her. “Really?”

“Yes. It’s the least I can do and we won’t be flying now anyway. The doctor said we shouldn’t fly when Taylor gets sick again. So…”

“But…” Stiles hesitates, looking over to the flight attendant. “Would that even be possible? I mean, you said the plane was full, right?”

She looks at her screen for a few moments until she smiles at him. “That would work out just fine, Sir. I only need your personal data since you have the receipt for your ticket with you. It won’t take more than two minutes.”

Stiles heaves out a relieved sigh, gets his wallet out and hands the flight attendant his ID. Even the people in the queue seemed to be relieved since now things are progressing again and they had a great story to tell. _You won’t believe it but a kid actually vomited onto someone’s shoes at the airport_.

True to her word, Stiles has got a seat two minutes later, taking his ticket from the flight attendant. And even though he insists that everything’s settled after she gave up her seats for him, Stiles was being handed fifty dollars from Taylor’s mom before she left with her still pale kid, heading towards the entry.

Stiles is already exhausted even though it was only half past ten in the morning. But now, he could at least buy a new pair of shoes and new jeans in the duty free shop since the ones he’s still wearing were covered in… no, there was no need to specify what exactly it was that covered his clothes. He stows away his wallet back in his bag, turns around a little to spot a sign that indicates the way towards the duty free area when he sees him. A guy so _insanely_ handsome and so spot-on Stiles’ type, it nearly hurts. Tall, great body (at least Stiles guesses since the guy was still covered by clothes. Very regrettable.), dark hair, a three-day-old beard and a piercing glance.

Stiles had felt at least a dozen pair of eyes on him throughout the entire ordeal at the ticket counter and the Taylor incident but that’s kind of a given when a kid does that thing to your shoes. But this guy Stiles just laid his eyes upon is still looking at him intently even though the rest of the people in the queue have already directed their attention back to their luggage and the boarding again. So much for Stiles’ five minutes of unwanted fame.

Stiles stays put for a few fleeting moments, admiring the perfection that was this man until insanely-handsome guy (Stiles would call him this from now on, yes.) smiles a small yet sassy smile at him before he turns towards the flight attendant, handing her his ID.

Okay. Time to leave. Time to get new clothes and a pair of vomit-free shoes because even if insanely-handsome guy ever decided to actually talk to him, not let alone hitting on him, Stiles wouldn’t get anywhere close to a kiss with the clothes he was wearing now. Not mentioning that all of this wasn’t even a possibility since Stiles was so brutally out of that guy’s league, it wasn’t even a possibility. Stiles had come to terms with his sexuality and he found himself to be sexy in his very own way and his looks were more than average, if Stiles himself was asked, but there were some guys who were so hot they belonged to Stiles’ jerk off material but that’s where it stopped. Insanely-handsome guy was one of them. A great daydream but also part of the _let’s stay realistic, Stiles_ group.

~*~

About two hours and a pair of new shoes and jeans later, Stiles is making his way through the left isle of the airplane, looking for his seat. He’d bought himself the newest issue of _Empire_ to pass the five hours of the flight in case his iPod’s battery failed him which, after this start into the day, was more than just a slight possibility. He’s seated pretty much at the back of the aircraft, row 35, seat A to be exact. Quite a few people are roaming around in the isle, storing away their hand baggage into the stowage over the seats, urging kids to sit down or getting themselves a magazine so it takes Stiles a while to even come close to his seat. And when he does reach his row, he checks his ticket three times if he was _really_ sitting on seat 35-A because if he was, he’s got a problem since insanely-handsome guy was sitting on seat 35-B.

Stiles turns around, looking from left to right, considering the option of turning around and telling someone else to skip seats with him because there was no way in hell he was going to sit beside that Adonis for five hours without having at least two nervous attacks and one boner.

“Is everything alright, Sir? Can I help you finding your seat”, a friendly-looking flight attendant asks, smiling at him expectantly.

“Yeah. I mean, no. I’m good. I just… I just realised that… no, I’m good. Great indeed because I managed to get on the flight _and_ get a window seat which is kind of a jackpot and, yeah, I’m shutting up now because none of this is relevant for you.” Stiles smiles at her apologetically, stuffing his bag into the overhead stowage like the other passengers around him.

When Stiles looks down, he realises that he either had to climb over insanely-handsome guy in a probably very embarrassing manner to get to his seat or he had to communicate with him, asking him if he could get up so Stiles could sit down next to him and that was kind of an embarrassing accident waiting to happen.

“Hey, could you maybe…?” Stiles looks down, smiling a little while nodding towards his own seat.

“Sure.” What a voice. What. A. Voice. It’s not what Stiles had expected when he first saw insanely-handsome guy. He would’ve expected a deep, maybe raspy voice but this guy’s voice was light and smooth and damn soothing.

“Thanks”, Stiles says while sliding past him and falling into his seat. Insanely-handsome guy sits down again too, getting his book out of his bag and starts to read despite all the buzz going on around him, like nothing could get him out of his calm state of mind.

Stiles always needs at least half an hour before he could start to relax and enjoy the flight, leaning back and maybe even take a short nap. He was not a nervous flyer. It’s more that he liked flying so much and always got excited that he wasn’t able to calm down entirely because all of the things around him caught his attention. The best part was the take-off though.

“Smooth.”

“What?” Stiles is pulled out of his thoughts, only realising now that insanely-handsome guy was glancing over to him, apparently talking to him.

“I said: smooth. Your attempt at wooing the flight attendant.” Derek smiles wryly but there was, unlike the first time he had eyed Stiles, a hint of reluctance in his gaze too.

“Yeah. I’m cool like that. But no wooing the flight attendant for me. I don’t bat for that team.” Stiles had his coming out a long time ago and was never one to be hesitant about his sexuality. On the contrary, he never beat around the bush with it because if someone had a problem with Stiles’ sexuality, he wanted no business with that person anyway.

“I see”, Derek says and his smile turns from wry to audacious in the blink of an eye. It’s rather startling to be honest. And charming. And bright. And infectious. And addictive. And Stiles’ really needs to stop looking for words to describe this guys’ smile because the flight would probably be halfway over until he would be done. The guy turns towards his book again anyway which startles Stiles’ again. Apparently, he was not a man of plenty words.

They sit in comfortable silence for some time. At least somehow comfortable since Stiles is not only a little on the edge because yay, flying, but also because he’s sitting next to this guy that he would, without hesitation, totally drag to the aircrafts’ toilet to give him a mind-blowing blowjob.

But Stiles is a lucky guy, making the flight in the end despite all the things that have happened, so he won’t complain about anything. Even though insanely-handsome guy glances over to him every now and then, he mainly stays focused on his book and Stiles is thankful for that because it gave him the opportunity to not freak out, adjusting himself to the situation and to generally not get a boner because a boner in an aircraft was all kinds of inappropriate. Especially when you’re sitting next to the one causing it and no possibility to get rid of the boner. Like, zero. Apart from getting up to get to the restroom to take care of it but that would involve getting up and nearly shoving said boner into insanely-handsome guy’s face which is not ever okay unless the guy agreed to give Stiles a blowjob and since that’s not an option either, Stiles will just stay seated, hoping to not get a boner. It would help if he’d stop thinking about possible boners, repeating the word over and over again in his head but it’s like that stupid trick that people do. The one with _don’t picture a pink elephant now_ and you inevitably picture a damn pink elephant so a drastic topic change was in order for Stiles right about now.

“What are you reading?” Addressing the guy you try not to think about. A+ practical thinking, Stilinski.

Insanely-handsome guy just holds up his book for Stiles to read the title. _1001 movies you must see before you die._ Huh. Stiles reaches down, grabbing his Empire and holding it up for him to see. “I see we have the same interests.”

The guy smiles. “My ex said that I’m pretty horrible when it comes to movies of any kind, age or genre so I’m stepping up my game a little.”

Oh. That’s what the book was about. So Stiles has been right. The guy was not only out of his league but also not interested. “She will be impressed when you get her back. Like, you have all of that badass background knowledge about all those movies. You can borrow my Empire later on if you like. Best movie magazine out there.”

“I have no intention of getting him back. He cheated on me numerous times even though we agreed on having a monogamous relationship and that’s a no-go for me. And I will get back to you about the Empire once I finish the rest of this.” The guy lifts the book in his hands a little, turning his view back to it like he wanted get back to reading. Which was all a little secondary to Stiles at the moment because the guy’s ex was his ex-boyfriend. And he just confirmed that he didn’t want to get back together with him. And that he was more the monogamous type which was _just_ what Stiles has been looking for longer than he’d like to admit. It turned out that insanely-handsome guy seemed to be kind of the whole package. Of course, he couldn’t know much about the rest of the guys’ character traits because they’ve barely talked up until now but all Stiles has learned about him by now was a bull’s eye. If he could, Stiles would pack him up and take him home.

“What an idiot”, Stiles murmurs more to himself than to anyone in particular.

“Pardon?” Seems like insanely-handsome guy still pays attention.

“No, sorry. I just… I think your ex is an idiot for cheating. On you, you know.” Stiles scratches the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Do you mean because he cheated on me or because he cheated in general?” One of insanely-handsome guy’s eyebrows rise up a little.

“Both, I guess. I mean, cheating sucks big time, especially when you’re in a committed relationship. And look at you. I don’t want to sound blunt but you’re kind of a jackpot.”

At first, the guy doesn’t say anything and Stiles was close to 100% sure that he just crushed all of his chances of ever starting anything with him.

“Derek.”

“Sorry?”

“My name’s Derek.” He extends his hand towards Stiles.

“Uhm… nice to meet you.” He takes Derek’s hand and shakes it. Derek has dry, warm hands and a very nice handshake, not too strong but not too light either. It was just right.

“Yours?” A small smile starts to form on Derek’s lips.

“Mine?”

“Your name?”

“OH! Yes, sorry… sorry. Stiles.”

“What?” Derek looks confused but this was a common reaction when Stiles introduced himself.

“My name is Stiles. Well, it’s my nickname but that’s what everybody calls me.” Stiles smiles a small smile, the corners of his lips turning upwards.

“Interesting.” Derek looks at him for a while, as if he was searching for something without knowing what exactly he was looking for. It was quite similar to the look he had given him back at the ticket counter when Stiles had the feeling Derek was trying to figure him out. But this time, there’s a little something in his eyes, like something sparking up.

“The good kind of interesting or the bad kind of interesting?” Usually, Stiles just lets people’s reactions to him stating his name slide. But this time, it was different because Derek seemed to show genuine interest in his person and not just because Stiles got this kind of jumpy, sometimes a little awkward vibe going on but because of Stiles as a person. Stiles connects well with people since he was extremely outgoing and very open-minded and he just loves to be around people. Sure, he values his alone time too but it’s just his thing to be around others.

“The good”, Derek says without hesitating.

Stiles smiles at this. He had the feeling that hardly anyone was as sure about liking him right after they met him as Derek seems to be. Quite often, Stiles rubbed up the wrong way and people confused his jumpiness and his fast talking with him being generally weird. Which he wasn’t, of course. “Thanks.”

“Nothing to thank me for. It’s not me who left the impression here.” Derek gives him an easy smile, putting his book into his lap after eventually closing it. The conversation he’s got going with Stiles seems to be more interesting than the book he was reading which made Stiles stomach jump a little in excitement.

“You sure did, buddy.” Derek is not holding back with his compliments, why should Stiles do so? Derek is gorgeous and he’s probably told on a daily basis. Stiles will only be one out of many and Derek’s probably so used to it by now that he wouldn’t even really respond to it.

“Is that so? How?”

“You know that there’s a term for what you’re doing, right?” Stiles won’t give in this easily. He likes to tease people and Derek’s seems to be just as fond of that as Stiles is.

“Is there?” Derek raises his right eyebrow a little, an expectant yet slightly amused expression on his face.

“Yup”, Stiles replies easily, making a _pop_ sound at the end of the word. “It’s called fishing for compliments.”

Derek puffs out a laugh at that, dropping his head, probably to hide his amused smile. On the one side, Stiles wishes he could see all of Derek’s laugh but on the other side, it’s also incredibly cute how the man next to him tries to keep up the cool, suave façade that he tried to construct up until now. At least, that’s what Stiles thinks. But he _really_ wouldn’t mind seeing Derek laughing again, but this time without all the dropping-the-face action.

“Good to know”, Derek says amused after a moment, reaching for his book again. He flips it open and starts reading again but the amused smile doesn’t leave his lips.

Stiles follows suit by picking up his magazine again too, starting to read. The excited buzz that still vibrates through his body makes it hard to concentrates though and he needs to read the first line exactly four times before he picks up the content. But it doesn’t really surprise Stiles all that much.

~*~

After a good twenty minutes of the two of them reading in comfortable silence, Derek lowers his book again, looking at Stiles from the side. “I must say that I’m disappointed about the outcome of this mornings’ hassle at the ticket counter though.”

“Why? Because I’m not the vomiting five year old who would’ve been sitting in this seat?”

Derek smirks boldly. “No. Because they didn’t actually make you wear the flight attendant uniform.”

Stiles laughs outright at this because the thought of this alone was beyond ridiculous and thinking that Derek would like to see this was even more so. “Not even as a Halloween costume or if I lose a bet. Not even then. There’s only so much dignity I can lose and I don’t have that much dignity to begin with.”

“I bet you could pull it off.”

“Yeah? I don’t think my legs are made for skirts though. Better stick to the jeans.” Stiles starts to really enjoy this. The friendly banter between the two of them is refreshing and it’s _just_ his kind of flirting. And this was definitely flirting, not even Stiles could talk his way out of the fact that Derek was teasing him because he seemed to be interested in him, as unbelievable as this may sound.

“You’ll never know until you try. Maybe it’s one of those things you’ll look back on when you’re old and think _If only I had tried when I was young enough to do this_ ”, Derek retorts.

“First of all, let me tell you that age won’t even be able to damage my timeless beauty and secondly, no.” Stiles holds up his hand in a dismissive gesture. “There are some things you just don’t do. Like going sledding without a sled, don’t do it, I tried. Or skinny dipping or trying not to use spoons for a week when it’s soup week in the cantina. And for me, wearing a skirt is one of those things I just don’t do.”

“For you, wearing a skirt qualifies as the same kind of no-go as skinny dipping?”

“Yes”, Stiles replies. “Okay, maybe skinny dipping is still a bit more of a _no thanks_ but not _that_ much more. I don’t really get the appeal of skinny dipping anyway. Most of the people that do it aren’t my type, like, at all.” Stiles looks at Derek who’s been suspiciously quiet in the last few moments. “What? It’s not like you can judge it, now can you.”

An amused spark flashes up in Derek’s eyes.

Stiles gasps. “No way! Don’t tell me you did it! Please don’t tell me you went skinny dipping!”

Derek simply smirks, a big fat _maybe_ plastered all over his face. It drives Stiles nuts, to be quite frank. The mere _thought_ of Derek running around stark naked has Stiles dick singing a full frontal version of the Ode to Joy. Which, again, not cool considering the location he’s current still at. And Derek, that ass, not only seems be aware of Stiles delicate state of mind, no, he even seems to revel in Stiles’ speechlessness.

“Can I offer you anything? Drinks? A sandwich?” Later on, Stiles will most definitely deny that he jumped a little at the sudden appearance of the flight attendant. Thanks to the entire _Derek running around naked_ thing going on in his head, he kind of shut out his surroundings because he had to concentrate hard not to pop a boner. A man needs to prioritise, okay?

“Black coffee for me”, Derek says before he turns around, looking at Stiles. “Anything for you?”

“Uh… Orange juice for me, please.” Derek shoots him a sceptic glare. “Seriously, you don’t want me drinking coffee. I’m hard to handle without it and impossible to be around when I have caffeine in my system.”

Derek shrugs, takes the two cups from the flight attendant before paying the drinks.

“Thanks, dude. Is it okay with you if I’m gonna give you the money when I get out of this ridiculously narrow space?” Stiles takes his cup from Derek’s small table.

“Keep it”, Derek replies easily, taking a sip from his coffee.

“Now, you really don’t have to. I hate being indebted to someone. I…”

“Stiles”, Derek cuts in. “Keep it. I invited you.”

Usually, Stiles would keep on insisting to give Derek the money back because he really does hate it when he owes someone money. But Derek sounded so sincere about it that Stiles, for once, drops the matter and just silently sips away his orange juice.

“Why were you so desperate to get on this flight anyway”, Derek asks after a few moments.

“My best buddy Scott’s getting married tomorrow and I’m his best man. There’s no way in hell I’m gonna miss that.” Stiles turns around in his seat to face Derek properly, as much as it’s possible at least because these aircraft seats have as much space as a goddamn shoebox.

“That’s nice.” Derek smiles a small smile, as if a shade of a memory flares up in his features for a second.

“Yeah. His fiancé Allison is really great. Like, the perfect choice for him and I’m super glad they finally pulled themselves together because there was no way Scott would’ve been happy without her. Same goes for her. You know, they had their ups and downs and fair share of break-ups but overall, they’re kind of the perfect couple, you know?”

Derek nods solemnly without any visible signs of an urge to say something so Stiles just keeps going because talking is one of the things he does best, despite the people who told him it’s annoying even though it really isn’t. They simply weren’t able to handle the amount of words Stiles is able to utter in quite a short amount of time. Scott, his dad, Lydia and a good amount of others were never irritated by him talking so much so he won’t even think about changing this habit anytime soon.

“Scott and I have been friends for more than fifteen years now and he’s like my brother. I know him inside and out and he knows me just as well and we both know, kind of always did I guess, that Allison’s the one for him. You know, they’re both one of those people you see and you feel happier by just being around them. It’s even a little sickening sometimes, especially the times when Scott was sitting on my bed, ranting about how much he misses her and how much he wants to get back together with her when they broke up.” Stiles laughs at the memory even though it was bordering on the edge of annoying back when it happened.

“I have a hard time believing in things like people being destined for each other or the concept of the one true love. But every now and then, there are people like your friend Scott and his fiancé or my parents who seem to be just that.” Derek’s got a contemplative look on his face.

“Yeah, I know man. It’s just…” Stiles hesitates a little because this conversation starts to reach levels of privacy that he doesn’t want to load onto Derek. The recent months have not been peachy for Stiles, not exclusively but mainly relationshipwise and everything that has happened is still pretty raw and Stiles never really gave himself enough room to heal properly and thoroughly. So talking to Derek about this kind of thing, especially when he’s stupidly attracted to the guy, may not be one of his finer ideas.

“Just what?” Stiles must’ve fallen quiet longer than he realised since Derek’s unusually soft reply startles him out of his train of thought.

“No, it’s nothing really. Just… I always wonder where they find each other. Is there like a hotline you can call that connects people that are perfect for each other? Or do they just randomly run into each other, knowing right away that they’re a lifetime thing? I just don’t get it.” Stiles laughs at this because these are, in fact, legit questions he’s got. He’s in so much awe about how these kind of relationships work out since he himself is sometimes struggling with the tiniest things. Damn you, insecurity, popping up at the most inappropriate times.

Somewhere in between his rant, a flight attendant collects the used cups and the rest of the clutter the passengers managed to come up with. Derek simply takes the empty cup from Stiles’ hand, brushing his warm fingers against Stiles’ while doing so, handing their cups to the flight attendant. It’s almost funny how his body chooses to react like a teenager. Stiles thought he was able to react to these kinds of things in a more mature way by now but apparently, his body was still stuck at being sixteen sometimes even though he did have his fair share of sex and he enjoyed it tremendously. But Stiles wasn’t going to complain as long as no awkward situations came up, he was definitely in for a little spark of excitement.

“Thanks”, Stiles says after the flight attendant left.

“You’re welcome. And I don’t think it works that way”, Derek answers.

“That what doesn’t work which way? The _finding the love of your life_ thing? Yeah, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work that way but there _must_ be some kind of secret thing to do since so many people manage to find someone they want to spend the rest of their life with whereas I’m pretty much convinced by now that I’ll end up marrying a rock.” Stiles laughs. Scott and he used to make jokes about the people they would marry when they were younger and came up with the most ridiculous possibilities, mocking each other endlessly. But the older they got, the less delusional the ideas of their future lives became and before they knew, they were talking about Scott wanting to spend the rest of his life with Allison. And about Stiles finding Ben, his ex-boyfriend, and thinking that maybe, if everything turned out as it seemed to be, having found someone he could spend the rest of his life with. In the end, Stiles found out the hardest way possible that life doesn’t work that way for everybody.

“It’s not about you finding someone you want to be with, Stiles”, Derek says and Stiles would be lying if he said Derek saying his name like that didn’t send shivers down his spine. “It’s about staying with that person, making your relationship work every single day, loving them in the good and the bad times and accepting them for who they are not because of their flaws but in spite of them.” A fire sparks up in Derek’s eyes while he’s talking and Stiles has a hard time averting his gaze. He likes to look people straight in the eye when he talks to them and most of them look back at him but it hardly ever gets this intense. Derek seems to have a way of looking at you, making you unable to look away, as if you were mesmerized by not only his eyes but also by the way his look fills them with life, by how there seems to be a subtle determination in him that’s present at all times.

Stiles wonders what Derek looks like when his expression softens, like when he dropped his head when he was laughing earlier on. Stiles finds himself wanting to find out what kind of expression Derek has when he’s being affectionate, what he looks like when he laughs without a care in the world and without the wish to hide his laugh. What it feels like to be the one in the centre of Derek’s attention and yeah, he should _definitely_ stop right this second because this is getting out of hand.

“Sorry, this got really intense all of a sudden.” Stiles scratches the back of his neck, sporting an apologetic expression. “I’ve been through a pretty messy breakup not so long ago that made me all sensitive about this kind of thing. You know, what’s the reason of life and what’s the secret of love and all that kind of stuff. I’m sorry that I unloaded all of that on you just now.”

“Don’t be.” Derek’s determined expression didn’t quite change. He still looks determined but now, there’s a faint trace of something in his look. Something that Stiles would describe as empathy.

“No, really. I usually don’t do that. I mean, I just met you and I’m already all up in your space, talking about all that existential stuff.”

“It’s nicer than small talk”, Derek supplies.

“What, you don’t like small talk?” Stiles laughs because Derek, in fact, doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that’d enjoy being around a lot of people, having to talk to them about little nothings and big ideas in the span of twenty sentences because let’s face it, that’s basically the concept of small talk.

“Not really.” Derek shrugs, reaching for his book. Stiles’ heart drops a little because that was pretty much a broad hint.

“Yeah. Okay. I… yeah, sorry.” Stiles laughs uneasily, reaching for his Empire, trying to make this as less embarrassing as possible.

“Wait, that’s not it”, Derek rushes to explain. “I’m simply not good at any form of small talk and you seemed to not like the idea of talking to me about anything _but_ small talk so I figured I’d better give us a break here.” Derek shrugs a little, looking at Stiles somewhat expectantly.

“Is that the kind of impression I left”, Stiles asks horrified. “Shit, I really need to work on the way I come across. Dude, that really wasn’t my intention at _all_. It’s just that I, you know, don’t cry my heart out in front of you when all you want to do is have a relaxing flight.”

“Who said I wanted a relaxing flight?” And back is the hint of tease in Derek’s eyes. Stiles isn’t sure whether to be excited or scared. Maybe he’ll just be both.

“But don’t say I didn’t warn you. I don’t want you complaining about me whining about my stupid ex.” Stiles holds up his index finger, lifting his eyebrows a little.

“I promise I won’t.” Derek smiles his easy smile, mixed with a hint of amusement and something that looks a bit like excitement. Stiles isn’t sure why anyone would be excited to hear about the problems he’s got with his love life. Apart from Scott because Scott is obliged to listen to it without complaining because he owes him for the time Stiles suffered with him over the temporary loss of Allison and because he’s his brother. Well, as close as it can get to having a brother without actually being related by blood.

“Good”, Stiles nods. “Well, long story short, my ex cheated on me kind of the entire time we’ve been together and I was too blind or maybe too madly in love to notice. And he didn’t take the break-up that well.” That’s the short and very much incomplete version of the events that went down a little more than two months ago. It’s hard, phrasing it like this, saying that Stiles has been too blind to see anything of what was going on around him and it took a lot of time to come to this point. But eventually, he managed to say it without the danger of breaking out into tears or the urge to punch himself for his stupidity.

Silence spreads after Stiles finished his confession. Well, not actually complete silence since they’re still surrounded by dozens of people but silence between the two of them. Derek just looks at him, for once an expression on his face Stiles can’t pinpoint at all. The silence drags on for moment after moment until Stiles is on the verge of brushing off everything he said, saying it sounds worse than it actually was, which would be an outright lie, when Derek finally speaks up.

“I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“That you had to go through that kind of thing”, Derek says.

Stiles hadn’t told many people about what went on with Ben and their break-up and leaving New York all together. Only the ones he was close to knew. And nearly all of them were supportive and even offered to come over to New York to help him with whatever it was that he needed which is why Stiles wasn’t quite honest about what exactly had been going on because he knew that at least half of them would’ve been over in a heartbeat, no matter what was going on in their lives at that time.

He told them about the general events, about the outcome and about his decision to move back to good ol’ Beacon Hills. Nothing apart from that because the break-up and all the mess that came with it was enough already, there was no need to further agitate the people he told. Some of them, if not most of them probably knew that Stiles hasn’t told them the whole truth but they let it slide for now, knowing that he would come around eventually and that it would do nothing to push him into telling them because that was a sure-fire way to make Stiles close down entirely. If he was determined to do something, he would do it, regardless of what others told him or wanted him to do. His dad calls this the Stilinski Stubbornness.

“It’s not like you haven’t been through the same thing. I mean, your ex cheated on you as well.” Stiles smiles a small smile, looking at Derek from the side.

“He did. But it’s always a very personal thing. Break-ups can be alike but they’re never the same. Just like a relationship is similar to other relationships but is never exactly like them. It’s always personal and individual.”

Even though Stiles has met Derek only this morning, he already loves the way Derek has with words, how he manages to phrase things so precisely and on the point accurate that they express things in just a few words where other people need ten times the word count to describe the exact same thing.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Stiles nods, probably more to himself than to Derek, still contemplating what Derek said just now, comparing it to his very own mess of a relationship. “You just feel stupid, you know? For believing in the relationship and being so in love and just not _seeing_ what’s going on right in front of you. I mean, I have a hard time buying the stuff those sayings tell you but _love is blind_ hits it right on the spot.”

“It’s not your fault”, Derek says seriously.

“But it is, isn’t it? There are always signs for those things. I must’ve been pretty blind to have overlooked them since he was cheating on me the entire time. With at _least_ two other guys. And…”

“Stiles”, Derek cuts him off. “It’s not your fault, okay? Believe me, I’ve been through all of that, looking for someone to blame and ended up with blaming me for all of it for a long time until a friend of mine pulled my head out of my ass and set it straight again.”

Derek is still speaking when Stiles already starts to shake his head. “Like you said, relationships are never the same. I’m glad you came to the point of knowing you did nothing wrong but it’s different with me and Ben. I was foolish from the beginning onwards and if I would’ve just…”

Stiles halts his words entirely when Derek lays his hand over Stiles’ hand on the armrest in between them and looks at Stiles insistently. “Stop. Don’t force the blame on you. I don’t know the details of what was going on and I don’t even need to know them to be certain that you’re not at fault. _He_ cheated on _you_ , not the other way around. Stop excusing his actions. Him cheating on you without you realising it doesn’t make you an idiot, it doesn’t make your love for him worthless. Your love is still worth a lot but he doesn’t deserve it because he’s a blind jerk who chose to act the way he did even though he must’ve been aware what it will do to you.”

And then, there’s silence again. A stunned one this time, heavy with meaning and emotion. Derek just singlehandedly managed to address the entirety of Stiles’ insecurities about Ben, the break-up, his emotions and all that came along with it without Stiles even telling him more than a basic outline of what went on. Yeah, he’s definitely a fan of Derek’s way with words.

“Sorry, that was out of line”, Derek murmurs, taking his hand away, sounding regretful over what he just told Stiles.

“No, don’t be.” Stiles swallows around the lump that had formed in his throat. After all, the break-up still was kind of recent and Stiles hadn’t allowed himself to come to terms with what happened. Not entirely, anyway. “I just… I’m a bit blown away by how you not only managed to sum up all of my insecurities and doubts but also how you gave me a boost of confidence that I guess I definitely needed after all that…” Stiles makes a few indicative hand gestures. “Mess.”

“You did. And what you said about my ex earlier on goes for your ex too: what an idiot.” A small smile is tugging at the end of Derek’s lips when Stiles looks over to him which Stiles returned gladly. Even though he has the feeling that Derek’s words may have unleashed some form of healing process within him, it was nice to have the heavy topic lifted off their shoulders since Stiles _really_ doesn’t want to spend the few hours he had with Derek talking about Ben and his misery over him.

“So, what makes you take this flight”, Stiles asks in an attempt for a topic change.

“I’m on my way home from a business trip to New York.”

“Ha. So you work in a company that sends you on business trips. You must be a pretty important employee then. Respect.” Stiles grins in Derek’s direction which is just answered with a smirk on Derek’s side.

“I send myself on business trips”, he answers easily as if that’s not even a big deal.

“Wait, does that mean you own that company?” Stiles looks at him incredulous. Sexy, good with words, funny _and_ successful. Stiles was definitely further gone than he thought was possible.

“I do”, Derek smiles with a hint of pride in his eyes.

“Sooooo…” Stiles looks at him expectantly. “What kind of company is it?”

“We sell dog food for all kinds of dogs. I was in New York because we’re working on an expansion right now. We try to go nationwide or at least try to sell our products in the coastal regions of the States.” While Derek was talking, his eyes lit up even more which made it pretty obvious that he loves his job despite all the work it seems to bring.

“That sounds amazing. How did you get into that business? It doesn’t sound like something you find in a brochure for possible future jobs.”

Derek huffs out a laugh while he runs his hand through his hair. It’s obscene. “No, it’s not. It’s a family business that my parents started and it grew steadily until they sold the food state-wide. Laura and I took over the business four years ago when our parents kind of retired.”

“Kind of retired? I figure that it’s the same way my dad kind of retired a few years back but still hangs around his job a few days a week for a few hours, right?” Stiles laughs, thinking about how much his dad likes retirement but how much he also likes being at work. _I’m not really working and I don’t have all the stress I used to have but I still get to do what I love. What’s to complain?_

“Exactly. But it’s understandable since they built up all of it and they want to get involved. And we’re grateful for some advice and a little help here and there so it’s a win win situation. What’s your dad’s work been?”

“He was a sheriff and I guess it’s kind of a _once a sheriff always a sheriff_ thing”, Stiles shrugs.

All of a sudden, Derek looks a bit taken aback.

“What”, Stiles asks upon seeing the startled expression on Derek’s face.

“Where are you heading to again?”

“You mean my final destination?” Stiles chuckles a bit about the movie insider since Derek’s still holding that book in his hand. “Beacon Hills. Why?”

And Derek just doesn’t say anything for a few, dreading moments. Stiles starts to get an uneasy feeling just before Derek speaks up again. “That’s why you and your name seemed familiar to me.”

“I get the feeling that I missed something important here?” Now, it’s Stiles’ turn to be confused.

“You’re Stiles Stilinski, aren’t you?” Derek looks at him with an open yet neutral expression, scanning Stiles’ features for some kind of reaction to his question.

“How in the world did you know?”

“Your dad is Sheriff Stilinski”, Derek answers.

“Yes….?” This is starting to get a bit weird. After all these really really good traits Derek showed, Stiles strongly hopes Derek doesn’t turn out to be a stalker. That would definitely ruin Stiles’ day.

“Sorry, it’s just that I’m from Beacon Hills too. I grew up there and my parents ran an animal shelter before they started their company. They worked together closely with the police station and that’s where I know your dad from. He was over on a regular basis.”

“No way. You’re Derek _Hale_ ”, Stiles asks incredulously.

“That’s me all over”, Derek smirks.

“Huh. It really is a small world. But why am I familiar to you when I on the other hand don’t remember you at all? I mean, Beacon Hills is not THAT big. I must’ve run into you at some point.”

“We probably did when we were younger. But you must’ve been so young that you don’t really remember. I went away to live on the east coast for a couple of years so I wasn’t around much and then I went to college in New York so I wasn’t around much again and when I came back for good, you were gone. No wonder you don’t remember me. Also, my appearance changed a bit when I grew up so you maybe knew my younger self but I had a growth spurt and the beard does wonders too sometimes.” Derek gives him an easy smile.

“Huh”, Stiles says again because he still is pretty baffled by this sudden turn of events. “That makes sense.”

“I guess so”, Derek laughs but his expression changes quickly into a stern one. “Does this make things weird for you?”

“No, why would it? It’s pretty cool if you ask me. I liked the Hales, sorry, I mean your family even though I didn’t meet you guys all that much. You’ve always been this kind of positive presence in Beacon Hills and my dad has a very high opinion of you so I’m totally cool with this revelation.” Stiles, in fact, is absolutely excited about this until it hits him.

He developed a pretty neat crush on Derek in the little span of time they spent together up until now and that means if Stiles actually made a move and it wasn’t working out, meeting Derek would be forever awkward since they both live in Beacon Hills again now. Great.

“You okay?” Derek looks at him worried.

“Yeah, I’m… I just remembered that I uh…” Coming up with a good excuse was not always as easy for Stiles as he’d liked it to be. “I forgot to charge my phone and it’s about as dead as a fallen tree so I won’t be able to call my dad or anyone to pick me up from the airport.”

“My car’s parked there and I need to head back anyway. I can give you a ride if you like”, Derek suggest.

“That would be…” His definite death. “…awesome. Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.”

“Good”, Derek smiles and is just about to speak up again when he’s interrupted by the flight attendant who asks if they want another round of drinks. Stiles is grateful for the few moments of time to breathe. All of this quickly developed into something bigger than Stiles could’ve anticipated this morning. But life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans, right? Maybe it’s best to just roll with it and see where they go from here.

“Are you a Robson or Barnes kinda guy”, Derek asks when he turns back towards Stiles, facing him again. Robson and Barnes are the two coffee shops or rather cafés that also sell coffee to go places they have in Beacon Hills and it really sounds ridiculous but you either go to Robson or you go to Barnes because the coffee just tastes special at both places and you eventually decide which one you like more. It’s one of the fundamental decisions you make while growing up in Beacon Hills. Robson or Barnes? It’s not even a vicious competition between the two of them but more of a comfortable co-existance.

“Definitely Barnes because their cinnamon hot chocolate is to die for. What about you?” Stiles hopes Derek’s a Barnes type too.

“Same goes for me. Most of my family is Robson but I’m a Barnes kinda guy.”

“Nice. It’s just… the atmosphere is awesome there. All comfy and homey and warm. I like Robson too but it’s just always been Barnes for me. These big, chunky wing chairs in the back of the café, right at the window are one of my favourite places in Beacon Hills. I used to sit there for hours on end, with a cup of that chocolate, reading a book or just watching people passing by while I listen to my music.” Stiles has the fondest memories of Barnes. He used to go there with his mom a lot and he used to go there after his mom died because that was one of the few places where he could still feel her being around, that had this very distinct feeling to them that wrapped him up in a kind of safe blanket and that left him with a feeling of _this will somehow be okay someday_. Which it was in the end but it was a hard process getting there and Barnes has helped him with doing just that.

“The green one?” Derek’s face splits into a knowing smile, like he knows exactly what Stiles is talking about.

“Hm?”

“Do you mean the big green arm chair in the back?”

Stiles shakes his head. “Nope, I always go for the big red one.”

“Good.”

“Why’s that good?” Stiles looks at Derek curiously.

“Because like that, we won’t have to struggle with choosing seats when we run into each other there”, Derek winks. Actually, freaking _winks_. Stiles is signed, sealed, delivered.

“ _If_ we ever actually run into each other. I mean, I don’t really know what our schedules are like so we will be like that tragic couple that waits for each other for years at the same spot and they just keep on missing each other by mere moments for all these years.” Not that the hint with the hapless couple is that subtle but Stiles mind doesn’t seem to aim for subtle anymore, it seems.

“We could set a date and time on which we accidentally run into each other there.” Derek sounds sure and relaxed but upon further examination, or simply by looking him in the eye, Stiles can see that he’s not as at ease as he’d like to look. He actually seems a little nervous.

“You mean… as a date?” Stiles swallows. All of a sudden, this is so much more serious than the good-hearted bickering and easy talk from before. Suddenly, the far away possibility of maybe being able to see Derek again sometime turns into a possible date. Which is mind-boggling in itself.

“I mean as whatever you, or we, want it to be. It can be a date if you like”, Derek says, fiddling with the edge of his book.

“Do _you_ want it to be a date”, Stiles asks and desperately hopes Derek’s answer will be a yes. On the one side, it surprises Stiles how much he wants Derek to say yes, considering how bad the last two months of his love and relationship life have been. But on the other side, it absolutely does not surprise him because right after he met Derek, Stiles was totally past it.

“Yes”, Derek indeed answers without hesitating. “I mean, unless you don’t want it to be a date because of what happened with your ex not so long ago. I’m happy to just meet you like that again if you’re not up for...”

“I definitely am up for it”, Stiles interrupts him.

In return, Derek smiles a warm yet blinding smile. “Great.”

“Yeah”, Stiles whispers and even though he organised an entire cross-country move for his entire household, got two job interviews and got many other things done, this still feels like the biggest achievement of his week.

~*~

They keep on talking for the next hour at least and it’s surprisingly easy to talk to Derek. It all just somehow falls into place and they don’t have the tiniest bit of trouble finding things to talk about. There are no awkward silences and they don’t accidentally interrupt each other and all of that is such a big plus that Stiles grows more grateful every minute that the two of them will have a date in the nearer future. Even though he knows the guy less than a day, he already loves talking to Derek more than he loves talking to many other people he knows.

By now, he found out a lot of things about Derek. For example that he’s got four siblings and a big black dog called _Elmo_ (“Stop laughing, my cousin named him!”). He lives on the borders of Beacon Hills in a big house close to the one the rest of his family owns, he’s a democrat, he likes cereal for breakfast (cinnamon toast crunch is his favourite), his favourite sport is baseball, he likes showers more than baths and his favourite movie is Dead Poets Society.

“For a guy that allegedly has no knowledge about movies, that’s a pretty neat favourite movie to have”, Stiles comments. “Not that I think you actually don’t know anything about movies.”

“Thanks”, Derek chuckles. “What’s yours?”

“Oh man, I can’t really answer that question because I’ve got, like, at least twenty favourite movies. But the favourite movie of the week would be Iron Man 3 because it was bloody epic. And we finally got to see a proper Pepperony kiss. It was about time.”

“A what?” Derek looks a bit confused upon the mention of the kiss.

“A Pepperony kiss. Two of the main characters, Pepper Potts and Tony Stark. It turns into Pepperony, a thing that came up a while ago and they picked it up. But I would’ve wished for a more passionate kiss, to be honest. Of course, they can’t have a full-blown make out session on screen but still…” Stiles waves his hands to elaborate his point further without actually using his words to do so. Derek must’ve realised by now that Stiles’ communication is built upon 50% words and 50% body language.

“Why? Was the kiss they had not enough?” Derek repositions himself in his seat.

“It was enough but I… I just like watching people kiss”, Stiles says. “O-kay, this sounded really weird and creepy. It’s not like I go around, stalking kissing people. I just enjoy a good and authentic on screen kiss, you know? When it’s not looking forced but when they actually lose each other in that kiss and manage to just…. Enjoy it, forgetting the cameras around them.”

Derek nods in understanding before he speaks up again. “What about real kisses though?”

“What about them?” Stiles is not sure what Derek’s aiming at.

“Are you a pro-kissing guy or do you not like it?”

“Dude, who doesn’t like kissing? Kissing is awesome!” Stiles looks at Derek incredulously. “Don’t tell me you don’t like kissing. You will shatter my insight into human nature when you tell me now that you don’t like kissing because you definitely seem like a guy who enjoys a good long make out session.” Apparently, talking to Derek is so easy and laid back that even talking about these sensitive topics is not a big deal for neither of them.

“Don’t worry, your insight into human nature is not defect. I do like kissing. But tell me, when you deem me to be a kissing kinda guy, what else do you think I enjoy?” Derek rests his arm on the armrest between them, piercing Stiles with a playful and yet somehow earnest look.

“Uh…” Stiles swallows. Maybe he got himself into waters that are a bit too deep. “You know, it’s more of a general feeling? It’s not like a bullet point list pops up in front of me with all the facts I could possibly know about you on our first encounter.”

“Don’t talk yourself out of this, Stilinski.” Derek smirks.

Okay. Okay, so Derek wants to go there. Fine. “I think you’re uh….”, Stiles hesitates, looking up into Derek’s eyes. He draws a deep breath upon seeing the intense look Derek directs at him, never averting his eyes. A fluttering feeling comes up in Stiles’ stomach and the air around them seems to be clouded with, as unsuitable as it may be, lust and want but also the feeling that neither of them is quite ready to make a move just yet. “You’re a classical kind of guy that likes to experiment but is fondest of the… uhm, the classical things like kissing and oh thank god”, Stiles exclaims when the flight attendant leans over to ask them if they want anything to drink.

“No thanks”, Derek says and his voice does sound a bit grumpy, as if he’s disgruntled that they were interrupted at this very point of their conversation.

The flight attendant smiles nevertheless and makes her way to the next isle.

Stile gives him a smile when Derek turns his head back towards him. “And what if I do want something?”

“It feels like she was here ten minutes ago already. But if you want something I can…”

“No, thanks”, Stiles waves off. “I was just kidding. But I do need to…” He nods his head towards the back of the aircraft.

Derek looks a bit puzzled but he still doesn’t break their eye contact.

“Toilet. I need to go to the toilet and it seems like now’s a good time because half of the passengers have gone in the last ten minutes, the rush seems to have died down”, Stiles explains, putting his Empire into his bag.

“Sure, yeah. Let me just…”, Derek replies, also putting his book away before getting out of his seat to make some room for Stiles to get out.

Not enough room apparently because even though Derek did step aside, Stiles’ body is still dangerously close to Derek’s when he tries to pass by him. And to top it off, another passenger tries to go through at the exact same moment. It’s not like there’s tons of space in here, geesh.

The guy accidentally shoves into Derek because the isle is too small for two people (who would’ve guessed, right?) which pushes Derek directly into Stiles personal space, enticing a small moan out of Stiles because a) total crotch contact and b) that is one rock-hard biceps and wow, no. No no no. Stiles will just choose to throw himself out of the airplane now.

He feels his cheeks light up in embarrassment and he only looks up into Derek’s eyes briefly. He’s not sure if he wants to place the emotions he sees in his expression but he probably wouldn’t be able to pinpoint them anyway since he doesn’t want to spend one single embarrassing second more here. “Sorry”, Stiles mumbles before turning around, heading towards the toilets with the intent of flushing himself out of the aircraft.

~*~

“Fucking neat, Stilinski”, Stiles murmurs to himself, flushing his face with water. “Moaning right into his freaking face just because his body touched mine. Tattooing _desperate_ or _needs to get laid_ onto your freaking forehead couldn’t make it any clearer.” He grabs a paper towel, drying up his face when a knock on the door resounds.

“In a minute”, Stiles answers before he mumbles an “impatient much” to himself.

Despite his statement, the person on the other side of the door knocks again.

“I said in a minute, okay?!”

When yet another knock resounds, Stiles loses it. He unlocks the door, yanking it open with a full-frontal snub on his lips when he sees… Derek. Huh.

There’s no time for him to process this piece of information though because Derek pushes him back into the small space, closing the door and locking it behind him.

Stiles looks absolutely flabbergasted and when Derek turns towards him, caging him with his arms, he’s at a total loss for words.

But he doesn’t really need to say anything since Derek speaks up first. “Please tell me I didn’t misinterpret this and that you actually are into doing this. Because if you aren’t, I will leave this toilet right this second to throw myself out of the next possible door.”

“I…”, Stiles gulps. “I know my behaviour out there was totally inappropriate and I apologise for it but yes, I really really am into doing th…”

Before Stiles has the chance to finish the sentence, Derek’s lips connect with his own for a passionate kiss. Stiles moans into it, pushing his body forward, pressing his hips against Derek’s.

Luckily, Derek’s as eager as Stiles, curling one of his arms around Stiles’ waist to pull him in as close as possible. He makes these little noises in the back of his throat that drive Stiles insane because, on the one hand, they are absolutely obscene but on the other hand, Stiles craves to get a full-blown moan from Derek. One of those that hit your very core and shatter you into a million pieces.

The kiss itself is, in two words, mind-blowing. It never settles on one rhythm only but changes from passionate to something a bit more settled but still daring every now and then. The small cabin is filled with the noises they make and their heavy breathing and that alone is intoxicating. While Stiles’ hands have dug themselves into Derek’s shirt, Derek’s hands are exploring Stiles’ body with eager curiosity. At some point, they slip under the hem of Stiles’ shirt while his fingers brush over the skin just above the edge of Stiles’ jeans which forces out a moan from Derek right into their mouths.

“God, Stiles. You make me crazy”, Derek pants against his lips after breaking apart a little. “I wanted to get my hands on you the moment I spotted you at that ticket desk.”

“Yeah?” Stiles breathes against his lips, slightly shoving his hips forward, causing a moan out of Derek and a wince out of himself.

“Yeah…”, Derek looks at him through half-lidded eyes, leaning his forehead against Stiles’.

“I think you had me at _sure_ ”, Stiles grins, looking Derek in the eye with what he hopes is an obvious expression, conveying at least some of the feelings that are going through his mind right now.

Derek chuckles a little before he ducks forward again, claiming Stiles’ lips once more. The kiss turns into something much more passionate and fierce now and their mutual feeling of want controls their every move.

Derek’s hand travels up Stiles’ body until one of his fingertips brushes over his left nipple while he thrusts his waist forward and Stiles really can’t hold back from throwing his head back with a heated groan leaving his lips.

“Sshhhh…”, Derek mumbles. “We don’t want to be caught, now don’t we”, he says before kissing Stiles again.

Stiles only moans approvingly. He’s too busy dry humping Derek and not losing his mind doing exactly that. He just can’t help himself right now. This is the hottest thing he’s ever done (and he did a lot of things) and his mind is thrown into overdrive by the mere thought of what’s next.

Derek laughs into the kiss which quickly turns into a gasping sound when Stiles’ grabs his ass, giving it a good squeeze while he shoves it towards his own crotch. Derek meets Stiles actions with an eager shove of his own every few seconds, making his hard-on collide with Stiles’ own, very stiff cock through their jeans.

“Fuck, Derek…” Stiles groans into the kiss.

“I want you so bad, Stiles”, Derek pants into his mouth after breaking away from his lips. “I want you so fucking bad right now…”

“Yeah, I…”, Stiles starts out but has to bury his face in the crook of Derek’s neck to muffle his moan that comes from Derek’s finger gliding a few centimetres below the waistband, brushing over the skin right above his penis.

“Can I?” Derek meets Stiles’ gaze with lust-clouded eyes.

“Yes, god, yes please”, Stiles says, kissing Derek’s neck heatedly.

Derek doesn’t waste one more second before his hand slips out of Stiles jeans again to open them so he’s not held back by anything anymore. After a few moments and with his face still shoved against Derek’s neck, Stiles finds the buttons of Derek’s jeans and opens them with jerky hands. Derek hums into his ear approvingly while his hot breath brushes over Stiles’ skin.

It’s not before the tip of Derek’s finger brushes over the head of his cock that Stiles realises Derek already got rid of his jeans and his boxers altogether. Derek really is efficient but there’s not that much time for Stiles to dwell on this because the moment Derek’s hand wraps around his dick, his mind explodes into a thousand directions and he, once more, has to moan into Derek’s shoulder so they won’t be heard outside.

“Fuck, listen to yourself, Stiles. You sound so sexy like that…” Derek groans into his ear while he gives Stiles’ cock a few exploratory strokes.

It takes a few seconds before Stiles has collected himself enough to utter out a few words of his own. “Right back… oh, fuck… right back at’cha, buddy. Oh god, faster, please Derek.” And as much as his heart bleeds for Derek, Stiles just can’t focus his attention on anything apart from the overwhelming hand job he gives him right now.

And Derek does go faster. He twist his hand around Stiles’ dick in such a fantastic way that makes Stiles’ hips jerk forward more than once and Derek nibbles on his earlobe all the way through. He’s got a steady yet swift pace at the beginning but the closer Stiles is to his release, the jerkier Derek’s hand moves get. “You have no idea how much this turns me on, how you moan into my shoulder and how you can barely keep yourself from screaming out loud… god, Stiles you’re so freaking hot”, Derek mumbles into his ears and Stiles cannot refrain from crying out loud into Derek’s neck. He strongly hopes the passengers outside, let alone the cabin attendants, haven’t noticed what the two of them are up to in here. It would be a shame to be forced to stop in the middle of this.

“Come on, Stiles. Come for me, I know you want it. Come for me.” And that’s all it takes to push Stiles over the edge. Derek’s words echoing through his ears, paired with the needy gasps filling the space and Derek’s palm gliding over the head of Stiles’ cock make him come so hard that his vision blacks out for a second. In the last moment before he comes, Derek takes up the kiss again so Stiles’ scream during his climax fades into their mouths instead of the room around them.

“You’re so hot, you have no idea.” Derek’s voice is a soothing yet faint sound in the back of his mind when Stiles comes down from his high ever so slowly. One after the other, his senses come back to him and he collects himself back together from what most likely was one of the most breath taking orgasms he’s had so far.

He’s back to enough consciousness after a few moments to realise that Derek’s got his hand down in his own pants, attempting to bring himself off.

“No, let me”, Stiles says, carefully pulling Derek’s hands off of himself. “I hope you’re just impatient and don’t think I only wanted release for myself.”

Derek grunts out as soon as Stiles’ hand brushes over the tip of his dick. “No, I… I’m just really close and… watching you was… fuck, can you please”, he breathes out in a rush of air.

“Yeah…”, Stiles replies and wraps his hand around the length of Derek’s cock, groaning quietly while he does so. Derek on the other hand shoves his face into the small space between Stiles’ neck and his shoulder to lapse his cry into some kind of silence. It’s a crazy sensation to feel the stubble of Derek’s cheeks against his skin, his heated breath rolling over his neck and to feel how Derek shivers under Stiles’ touch, how he’s effect by the slightest move of his fingers. Stiles could do this for hours on end. It’s mesmerizing.

Stiles curls his arm around Derek’s neck, pulling him closer in the process and initiates another heated kiss. To be quite honest, the kissing alone would do it for Stiles. Derek is an amazing kisser and he’s got a way with his lips that is downright addicting. So Stiles dearly hopes that after they’re done here and when they have their next date, which will hopefully be very soon, kissing is an option or part of their date activities.

At an especially firm stroke, Derek groans into Stiles mouth in a way that makes his entire body vibrate with it. He seems to be close to his release so Stiles pulls away a few centimetres and guides Derek’s face back into the crook of his neck. It’s not entirely selfless because he wants to feel Derek’s breath on him again, wants to feel him on his skin.

“Stiles… I’m…. I’m close”, Derek rasps against his neck and the way he sounds, the way he says Stiles’ _name_ makes Stiles’ dick, despite the recent orgasm, contemplate the option of getting up again.

“Let it go”, Stiles whispers into Derek’s ear, briefly licking over it. “Just let it go.”

And Derek does. Not a moment too soon, he shoves his face into Stiles’ neck, somewhat muffling his cry when he comes. Just seeing him orgasm, how the small spasms wander through his body, feeling the way his hand clenches Stiles shirts, educes a moan of his own from Stiles. He’s not sure if he’s ever seen something quite this arousing or erotic. It definitely makes the top three of his most erotic experiences though, that’s for sure.

For a few moments, they just stand there like this. Derek’s leaned against Stiles, gasping for air and letting the shivers run out of his body one of the other.

Stiles on the other hand just keeps his arm around Derek’s waist, holding his body firmly against his own, enjoying every possible second of their afterglow. Eventually, he grabs a few paper towels, cleans them up and tosses them in the bin.

Derek’s the first to speak up again. “That… that was…”

“Yeah…”, Stiles answers after Derek doesn’t seem like he’s out to finish what he said. “Amazing.”

Derek nods into Stiles neck, planting a few small kisses here and there, dragging out their closeness. Stiles lets his fingers run over the hairline at the back of Derek’s neck while his other hand draws tiny, chaste circles on the skin at the small of Derek’s back.

If it weren’t for the knock on the door, they’d probably stay like this for another hour. “Sir, are you alright?” Seems to be one of the flight attendants.

Stiles is about to answer when Derek shakes his head and voices out an answer. “Yeah, just feeling the travel sickness a bit. But I’m fine, thanks.”

Right. Derek was the one that entered the toilet last. Technically, Stiles is not even in here anymore.

“Alright. If you need anything, please just approach us, Sir”, the flight attendant says and, hopefully, leaves after Derek utters another _Okay, thank you_.

“That was close”, Stiles smiles, leaning his forehead against Derek’s.

“So?” Derek smirks, leaning forward to place a kiss on the tip of Stiles’ nose.

“I see. You’re the adventurous type. Good to know.”

“Only sometimes. Like you said, I’m more the classical kinda guy that enjo…”

Stiles groans out. “Don’t remind me of that. Top five of the most embarrassing things I said on a first encounter.”

“To be fair, I kind of forced you to say it”, Derek says.

“Let’s just say we’re even and think of a way to get out of here without making it too obvious”, Stiles suggests.

“I’d say we just get out the door and get back to our seats?” Derek’s about to reach for the lock when Stiles keeps him back.

“Maybe it’s better to see if the air’s clear and go one at a time.”

Derek just smiles at him, gives him one last kiss and opens the door, peeking his head out to see if anyone’s queuing for the toilet. Apparently, no one is so he gently nudges Stiles into the side before he slips out of the small space. Stiles follows him a few seconds later, glancing around to see if anyone sends them a suspicious look which, luckily, no one does so it seems like they in fact managed to not be too noisy.

They quietly slip back into their seats, not saying anything for a few moments. Stiles isn’t even sure if he’d find the right words right now anyway.

“You alright”, Derek asks after some time.

“Yeah, I’m good. Just a bit bummed out after that. I’ve been tired all week anyway and something this thrilling sent my body and mind into strike mode”, Stiles chuckles. “You good too?” He turns his head to look at Derek.

He’s met with a warm, content smile. “Definitely good.”

“Good”, Stiles says, returning the smile before he leans his head back against the head rest, practically feeling the energy ooze out of his body. “This is one of the most awful things to do after just joining the mile high club, I’m fully aware of that, but I’m just so incredibly tired.”

Derek already shakes his head while Stiles is still talking. “Don’t be. Catch some sleep, I won’t hold a grudge against you. I swear”, he winks.

“You are a saint”, Stiles mumbles through a yawn. He tries to get into a comfortable position which is highly unlikely since they’re in the economy class of an airplane. Nothing is comfortable here when you want to sleep. There’s only something around the range of _stiff neck_ to _stiff everything_ that you get when you try to rest a little.

Derek seems to notice Stiles’ struggle. “You can use my shoulder if it helps”, he offers with a shade of amusement in his voice.

“Have I mentioned already that you’re a saint?”

Derek just laughs while Stiles scoots over and rests his head on Derek’s shoulder.

And that’s where he stays for the next two and a half hours until Derek nudges him carefully. “Hey, we’re about to land.”

“Already?” Stiles murmurs, running a hand over his face to get rid of some sleepiness.

“Yes. You’ve been sleeping through most of the flight.”

“Sorry”, Stiles says, looking over at Derek. He really wished he would’ve been able to talk to him more but the tiredness just knocked him out like a light.

“Nothing to apologise for. We’ve got plenty of time to talk on our way back to Beacon Hills.”

“I hope we do”, Stiles grins.

~*~

And in fact, they do. They’re talking all the way from getting off the airplane to the baggage claim and to Derek’s car. They slip right back into the easy conversation about everything and nothing they had back in the airplane and he knows it sounds very cliché but for Stiles, it feels like he’s known Derek for many years already. There’s just this very distinct feeling that makes talking to Derek and being around him easy and comfortable, someone you want to spend as much time with as possible.

Stiles is aware of that and knows that if he’s not careful, he’ll be falling for Derek faster than a stone being tossed into a deep abyss. Of course, there’s nothing he can do about it and he’s not sure if he even wants to stop himself from falling for this guy but there’s still an ache inside of him that’s left over from the Ben disaster and everything that happened a few months ago.

“We don’t need to rush things, Stiles”, Derek says eventually.

Stiles snaps out of his thoughts and looks at the clock. It’s gotten late and they must be close to Beacon Hills by now. “Sorry, what?”

“I said we don’t need to rush things, Stiles”, Derek repeats himself.

“Why rush things?” Stiles sends a puzzled look towards Derek.

“Between us and what… happens from here.”

“What brought up that train of thought all of a sudden”, Stiles asks.

“You went really quiet after I said that I’m looking forward to our next meeting and I put one and one together”, Derek shrugs.

“Sorry. Yeah… It’s not that I don’t want to. I just need a few days to get… there, I guess. As much as I wish it wouldn’t be, Ben’s presence is still on my mind somehow and… yeah.” Stiles looks down, his fingers playing with the hem of his shirt.

Derek reaches over the centre console, putting his hand on Stiles’ thigh. “Don’t do anything you don’t want to and don’t rush yourself. We’ll just go along and do things at a comfortable pace.” He gives him a reassuring smile.

“Thank you”, Stiles says and interrupts Derek when he’s about to downplay what he just said. “Don’t belittle that, okay? That’s not something anybody would do. I’m glad you’re okay with doing things this way.”

“It’s more fun anyway, isn’t it”, Derek says. “Getting to know each other slowly, finding out about the things the other likes little by little. I think it’s exciting and I’m looking forward to it because I have to admit, I pretty much rushed into all my past relationships.”

Stiles nods. He can’t say it’s been the same for him but he’s had his very own relationship trouble so getting to know each other slowly may be quite a good thing.

“What I want most right now is to get to know you better. Everything that follows is an addition to it and we’ll focus on that when it’s happening”, Derek says, looking over to Stiles for a brief moment before he averts his eyes again, back onto the road. What he said though sends butterflies through Stiles’ stomach and a blush over his cheeks. It’s enticing how Derek manages to say these things in such a calm and sure voice, as if there’s not a single doubt in his mind. Stiles is sure there are some insecurities and some doubts because Derek’s human. But the way he sounds so sure that he definitely wants to get to know Stiles better, that he wants him to be a part of his life from now on is making Stiles mind a bit drunk on happiness.

“I really want to get to know you better too”, Stiles says in a quiet voice, maybe less to Derek but more to himself.

Derek answers with a small squeeze of his hand that’s still resting on Stiles’ thigh.

~*~

They pass by the Beacon Hills road sign a little while later, entering the street that leads them to the centre of town and Stiles feels himself relax significantly. Even though he likes to travel, likes to see new places and meet new people, one of the best parts of it always is the coming home. And Beacon Hills is home for him. This is where his dad is, this is where Scott is. This is where he knows his way around town and everything’s just so familiar that he feels at peace with himself and the world.

“Good to be back, huh?” Derek gives him a contend look that indicates that he feels exactly the same way.

“Definitely. It’s been about time I came back. Oh, the next one right”, Stiles says, pointing to a street ahead of them.

Derek follows Stiles’ directions, turning into the street. “Are you here to stay or is your next destination already planned out?”

“I do hope I’m going to be able to stay here. I’ve got two job interviews next week and I’m hopeful that I’ll get hired.”

“I’m gonna keep my fingers crossed for you”, Derek says earnestly. “Where to now?”

“We can stay on this street for a bit still. At the end of it, you just turn left and that’ll be us.”

Derek hums affirmatively and falls silent again until they pull up in front of Stiles home about ten minutes later.

“Thanks for the ride. I owe you one”, Stiles says, stretching his body a little after the long journey before he looks over to his house. Stiles knew his dad would stay awake until he’d be home. Stiles called him before they left the airport but he’s still glad to see that the lights in the kitchen and the living room are on, indicating that his dad’s awake. Stiles is glad that he is because he’s been dying to see him for weeks on end.

“Oh, I will definitely collect that favour”, Derek winks playfully.

“Should I be scared now”, Stiles asks, huffing out a laugh.

“Maybe”, Derek teases but there’s no real heat behind it.

Stiles laughs and reaches for the door handle. He hesitates though, halting his movements and looking over to Derek. “I do mean it though, the thank you.”

Derek smiles, taking Stiles’ hand, squeezing it briefly. “I’m really glad this kid vomited onto you this morning.”

Stiles barks out a laugh. “As weird as it sounds but I’m, kind of, glad about that too. Only the meeting you part that came along with it though.”

“I figured”, Derek grins.

“So… should I call you later this week and we’ll decide when we’re going to accidentally run into each other at Barnes?”

“Call me whenever you want to. I’m free the next few days”, Derek answers.

“Good.” Stiles lets the moment last a while longer, looking at Derek with a small smile on his lips before he gets out of the car, collecting his bag from the trunk and making his way to the house. He turns around before he unlocks the door, lifting his hand as a goodbye gesture once more before he steps inside.

All those times he hasn’t been all too sure if staying in Beacon Hills is the right thing to do, he is sure now because this is the place he always did and always will return to. Because no place on earth could give him the feeling of coming _home_ more than Beacon Hills and, first and foremost, the people here that he loves and that are waiting here for him to return.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> The title is from the song "come away with me" by Norah Jones.
> 
> If you have any questions, ideas or constructive criticism, feel free to send a message or a comment my way here or on my [Tumblr](http://possiblywonderful.tumblr.com).


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